All About Body Fluids

Sweat itself doesn’t stink. It’s the bacteria on our skin that makes it funky. Sweat is the body’s way of cooling itself down. Emotions can also affect your sweat glands. We sweat when we’re nervous.

Why so much? The slippery stuff -- which is made mostly from water -- breaks down food, and makes it easier to swallow, and helps keep your mouth clean.

Pee is mostly water, and it’s sterile until it leaves your body. But you could pass along an infection if you were sick and somebody drank your pee. Plus, it could have some icky stuff in it like undigested alcohol. If you were to steal a sip, you’d find it tastes salty.

Bile sounds vile. It’s icky and sticky, thick and yellow or greenish.  
But it helps you digest food and get rid of waste. Your liver makes bile. Between meals, it’s stored in the gallbladder.

You blow mucus into tissues when your nose is clogged. But snot isn’t the only kind of mucus in your body. That sticky stuff is also in your mouth, lungs, intestines, and stomach. What does it do? It protects the wet layers of skin that make mucus and keeps them moist.

There’s not that much sperm in semen. In fact, less than 1% of semen is made up of the little swimmers. That’s why semen looks and feels the same in men who’ve had a vasectomy. What else is in semen? Stuff like water, sugar, acids, protein, and zinc.

Practice milk, called colostrum, comes in the first few days after having a baby. Thick and yellow or thin and watery, it’s chock-full of stuff that keeps babies healthy. Over time, the real milk, which looks like skim milk, comes in.

They can fill your eyes, trickle down your face -- and run out of your nose. Tears come out of glands under your upper eyelids. Some of them drain out through tiny tubes between your eyes and nose. If you’re crying hard, those tubes can’t drain all the tears. Some run down your face and others come out of your nose.

There’s a lot going on in your inner ear. For one thing, you’ve got liquid in a little pouch-like sac. That liquid has to be just the right amount so you can move and keep your balance. Sometimes, that fluid builds up inside your ear. When that happens, you could get really dizzy, which is called vertigo.

Mellow yellow is good and usually means you're well-hydrated. Your pee has enough water in it. Darker pee colors can mean your body doesn’t have extra water to spare. Grab some water and guzzle, unless your doctor has told you to cut back on your fluids.

Normal vaginal discharge has a lot of jobs. It keeps the vagina clean and moist and helps prevent infection. It should be clear, white, or off-white. It shouldn't itch or burn. Discharge that causes discomfort or is green, yellow, has a strong odor, or looks like cottage cheese or pus can mean an infection. See your doctor. A normal vaginal discharge can start 6 months to a year before girls start their period.